| DAVID NAIL Bio:
It seems that good ol’ boys and girls are everywhere country fans
look these days. And while that rough-hewn sound and image has clearly
established its place in the genre, it’s refreshing to encounter an
artist who stands apart from the crowd -- in look and style, but
especially in his music.
Enter David Nail. With Sinatra-like levels of poise and class,
the rare gifts of natural melody and soul, and a voice as enveloping as
a Cumberland River fog, the Missouri native is a modern-day country
gentleman. He’s Jim Reeves crossed with Elton John.
Garth Brooks meets
Stevie Wonder. Glen Campbell blended
with Michael Bublé.
The musical result of those mash-ups is a rich sound that hearkens
back to Nashville’s Countrypolitan days, when artists like Campbell --
one of David’s heroes -- added a dash of sophistication to country
music.
“My father was a band director for 31 years and he listened to all
sorts of music, including a lot of old-school Elton John. I just loved
the big, lush feel of those records,” David explains. “Glen Campbell was
a huge influence on me for the same reason: the arrangements, the
elaborate production, the dramatic songs. Those influences all come out
in what I do.”
This is specifically true on David’s vibrant new album, The Sound
of a Million Dreams. “A lot of the sounds that I try to emulate and
use for inspiration are from a time when pop music was called that
because it was popular,” David says. “And who doesn’t want to have
popular music?”
The Sound of a Million Dreams is Nail’s follow-up to 2009’s
I’m About to Come Alive, which yielded the Top Ten hit “Red Light”
and was also listed by Esquire Magazine as one of 50 Songs Every Man
Should Be Listening To. David also received an Academy of Country Music
nomination for Single Record of the Year for “Red Light.” Furthermore,
Nail scored a Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance
for “Turning Home.”
Much like I’m About to Come Alive, The Sound of a Million
Dreams is cinematic in its scope, with lyrics and melodies awash in
imagery. In the evocative “That’s How I’ll Remember You,” it’s snapshots
of baseball-game dates in Brooklyn with an ex-lover. In the swirling
“She Rides Away,” the titular girlfriend makes tracks in a rusty El
Camino. And in the album’s yearning first single “Let It Rain,” a
contrite husband seeks forgiveness for “the one night I forgot to wear
that ring."
“Imagery is so much a part of what draws me to the songs I record. I
pick songs with cities in their lyrics or the names of girls because I
want you to know exactly where I’m coming from and what I’m talking
about,” says David. “I love painting those pictures.”
And with the album’s title track, he just may have painted a
masterpiece. Written by Scooter Carusoe and Phil Vassar, “The Sound of a
Million Dreams” expertly sums up David’s belief in the power of music,
namely the power of a song, to create memories. It references classics
by Seger, Springsteen and Haggard, all pegged to different milestones in
the narrator’s life.
Nail connected with the message so deeply that he chose “The Sound of
a Million Dreams” to represent the album.
“I’ve always felt that an album’s title was the most important thing
besides the music. It automatically gives someone an idea of what to
expect,” says David. “If you had to tell the story of me to this point,
that song really sums it up.”
But the lyrics on The Sound of a Million Dreams, whether
David’s or those of his co-writers, only tell part of the story. The
rest unfolds thanks to David’s incomparable voice. Bourbon-smooth, full
of emotion and always in control, it’s an instrument in and of itself.
And the singer-songwriter knows when to let it loose or rein it in.
“I don’t want somebody to think I’m a great singer because I can sing
a Stevie Wonder hit and do all the licks,” he says modestly. “With this
record, I wanted to find the best songs that I could sing as best as I
can, but at the same time, songs that I could sing effortlessly. And by
‘effortlessly,’ I mean emotionally, not technically. There’s a
difference between singing a song on key, and singing a song that makes
a person instantly feel something.”
Still, David views the album as a stepping stone of sorts -- he hopes
his recorded work will draw listeners out to his live show, where the
real vocal magic happens. While recording The Sound of a Million
Dreams, he paid close attention to how the songs might sound when
performed live. It was a pivotal difference from the way he and
co-producer Frank Liddell structured I’m About to Come Alive, and
an approach partially adopted from being on the road with
Jason Aldean and
Lady Antebellum. (Lady A’s Charles
Kelley and Dave Haywood, incidentally, contribute a song to the album,
the soaring “I Thought You Knew,” co-written with David and Monty
Powell.)
“I had the chance to see some bigger productions and the art of
putting on a show,” David says of those high-profile tours. “I learned
how songs are so much bigger live and I had that in the back of mind
while making this record. When people hear these songs, they’ll
anticipate how grand they’re going to sound onstage.” This is proved
with the album opener “Grandpa’s Farm,” a sultry honky-tonk shuffle that
is equal parts Little Feat and the Rolling Stones.
Ironically, the record’s first song could end up being David’s
concert closer.
“That’ll be a song that you wouldn’t want to follow with another,” he
declares. “With ‘Grandpa’s Farm,’ we’d leave as big as an exclamation
point as we can.”
The same can be said for The Sound of a Million Dreams as a
whole. It’s a definitive statement that David Nail has arrived and is
committed to releasing his brand of mature country music -- songs that
are built around personal stories, transcendent vocals and a sense of
class.
“That will always be the basis of what I do on a record and what I
try to do live. If you’re looking to get rowdy and hear a lot of
screaming and hollering, you’ll be disappointed,” he says with a laugh.
“This record yields a different kind of enjoyment. And there are all
kinds of songs. It really does epitomize the sound of a million dreams.”
And for fans of sophisticated country music, it’s a million dreams
come true.
website:
www.DavidNail.com |
